(b) Deprivation state

Water deprivation is widely used as an antecedent for behaviour control with fluid reinforcement. Conventional 23 hr deprivation or percentage body weight criterion depletion are not feasible in the clinical situation. The patient was deprived of fluid for 18 hr prior to the treatment session. He also received three 1300 mg doses of entric coated Sodium Chloride at 6, 4 and 2 hr before treatment began. Two hours before the session he received 20 mg of Frusemide (a potent oral diuretic). Prior to this regime he was screened to exclude any physical abnormalities with special attention to renal function.

(c) Procedure

The patient was presented with a female slide which he had previously rated as very attractive and was encouraged to imagine to this slide as long as it was present. He was told that his phallic blood flow would be monitored and as a result of change in this he would receive a reward (a drink of iced lime). Reinforcement was signalled to him by a small cue light. Following a 10 min baseline period the slide was presented and his phallic response shaped over the session which lasted until 30 reinforcements had been earned or 45 min had elapsed. Shaping followed the usual procedure of successive approximations in that a very small phallic response was initially reinforced but that the criterion for reinforcement was progressively increased throughout a session. As sessions progressed the initial criterion was also progressively increased. To avoid movement artefacts a time out of 20 set followed each reinforcement. Physiological responses were monitored for a further 10 min after the slide was removed. In all the patient received 10 conditioning sessions.